School locked down after reports of masked men

Police launched a room-to-room search of Boulder High School early today after a cook reported seeing two suspicious men in the building, both wearing camouflage and one wearing a ski mask.

Authorities said no classes or groups were meeting in the building at the time and the school was locked down. The search with a bomb-sniffing dog had turned up nothing after about two hours, Police Chief Mark Beckner said.

He said there was no indication that men had been armed.

"This could be a spring, end-of-school-year prank. It could be a burglary. It could be kids goofing around, or it could be more serious," Beckner said. "Given the times that we live in and recent events, we have to take all precautions."

Classes were canceled for the day, said Chris King, deputy superintendent of the Boulder Valley School District.

About 50 students who were already on school buses were taken to another school, where their parents were told they could be picked up, district spokesman Briggs Gamblin said. He said no decision would be made on whether to hold classes Friday until police finished their search.

Beckner said the cook spotted the men at about 6 a.m. on the first floor of the three-story building, and they ran when she yelled at them. The cook described them as young, Beckner said.

Beckner said no threats against the 1,900-student school had been made in recent days. Graffiti had been found inside the building in late March or early April saying people would die on April 19, the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings near Denver.